Auxiliary spring unit for locks

ABSTRACT

An auxiliary spring unit is for use with locks having a frame with a flat thereon and having a hand hold adapted to be mounted on a spindle rotatable on the frame. The unit has a capsule including a cylindrical cup with an inturned flange. A ring is rotatably disposed within the cup and has walls defining axially extending pockets. A closure plate interlocked with the flange has a flat engaging the flat on the frame and has lugs extending axially toward, or in substantially axial alignment with, the pockets. Springs curved within the cup bear simultaneously against the pocket walls and against the lugs to act as yieldable positioning devices.

United States Patent 1 Hegedus Jan. 2, 1973 [54] AUXILIARY SPRING UNIT FOR LOCKS [75] Inventor: Denes Hegedus, San Francisco,

Primary Examiner-Robert L. Wolfe Attorney-Marcus Lothrop et al.

[5 7] ABSTRACT An auxiliary spring unit is for use with locks having a frame with a flat thereon and having a hand hold adapted to be mounted on a spindle rotatable on the frame. The unit has a capsule including a cylindrical cup with an intumedflange. A ring is rotatably disposed within the cup and has walls defining axially extending pockets. A closure plate interlocked with the flange has a flat engaging the flat on the frame and has lugs extending axially toward, or in substantially axial alignment with, the pockets. Springs curved within the cup bear simultaneously against the pocket walls and against the lugs to act as yieldable positioning devices.

7 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures Calif. [73] Assignee: Schlage Lock Company [22] Filed: June 23, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 155,720

[52] U.S. Cl. ..292/l, 267/150, 292/347 [51] Int. Cl ..E05c 21/00 [58] Field of Search ....292/347, 1, 356, 357; 70/224; 267/150 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,505,858 5/1950 Hagstrom ..292/224 2,729,485 l/l956 Schlage ..292/1 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 480,364 2/1938 Great Britain ..292/347 PATENTEDJAN 2 ma SHEET 1 [IF 2 FlG. 6

28 FIG 4 INVENTOR. DENES HEGEDUS FIG 7 ATTORNEYS PATENT'E'DJAM' 2 ma 3.708.191

sum 2 BF 2 FIG. 11 FlG 1O INVENTOR. DENES HEGEDUS z /r /zrf ATTORNEYS unbalanced weight tends to overload the normal centralizing mechanism of the lock and urges the knob, handle or lever to rest in a position other than the designed rest position. If the hand hold or lever is extremely heavy or largely unbalanced, enough extra rotation from the designed horizontal rest position is produced to make the handle position unsightly or even awkwardly out of location for optimum convenience.

To correct this sort of discrepancy, various auxiliary spring mechanisms are utilized. An example is shown in Ernest L. Schlage U.S. Pat. No. 2,729,485. The construction of some locks is such that an arrangement different than that of the Schlage patent is desirable. Some lock frames have a boss surrounding the spindle that turns to actuate the lock mechanism. The boss is large enough so that it may be specially provided with oppositely disposed flats. The hand hold or lever which engages the spindle does so by means of a slot and tongue connection.

It is therefore an object ofthe invention to provide an auxiliary spring unit for a lock of the character described.

Another object of the invention is to provide an auxiliary spring unit which can readily be encased in the lock mechanism but can be fabricated and handled as a separate unit.

Another object of the invention is to provide an auxiliary spring unit that is readily usable with hand holds or levers of either right-hand or left-hand construction.

A further object of the invention is to provide an auxiliary spring unit which readily centers even a' heavily unbalanced hand hold at the designed location.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive but effective auxiliary spring unit.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an auxiliary spring unit that is an improvement over those heretofore known.

Other objects together with the foregoing are attained in the embodiment of the invention described in the accompanying description and illustrated in the accompanying'drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of partof a door panel and jamb with a lock mechanism with which my auxiliary spring unit is used;

FIG. 2 is in part a plan view and in part a cross section, the plane of which is indicated by the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross section, the plane of which is indicated by the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an end elevation, to a reduced scale, of the auxiliary spring unit;

FIG. 5 is an end elevation of a portion of a lever, of one direction, for use with the auxiliary spring unit and lock mechanism;

FIG. 6 is an end elevation of a lever, of the opposite direction, for use with the auxiliary spring unit and lock mechanism;

FIG. 7 is an end elevation of the lever shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diametrical cross section through the auxiliary spring unit;

FIG. 9 is a cross section, the plane of which is indicated by the line 9-9 of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a rear elevation of the auxiliary spring unit; and 2 FIG. 11 is a side elevation of the auxiliary spring unit. In a typical environment the auxiliary spring unit is utilized with a lock mechanism, in pertinent part shown in FIG. 1. This mechanism includes a lock body 6 or chassis having a circular cylindrical recess 7 therein defined by a peripheral wall 8 and an end wall 9. Either forming part of or separately introduced into the body 6 is a fixed tube 1 1 projecting into the recess 7 and having a generally circular-cylindrical exterior surface 12. The end portion of the tube 11 within the recess 7 is not entirely circular-cylindrical but rather has an upper flat 13 and a parallel lower flat l4.

Rotatable within the body 6 about an axis 16 is a spindle 17 in the form of a hollow tube having an axial slot 18 extending thereinto from the outermost end thereof. Designed to restupon and to interengage with the spindle l7 is-the hub 21 of an appropriate hand hold such as the unsymmetrical, unbalanced lever 22 or the mirror image lever 23. These levers are identical except for their hand, one being for use in a left-hand direction and the other one being for use in a righthand direction. They are substantially identical except for symmetry. The hub 21. has a central bore 24 designed readily to receive the spindle 17 and conveniently is formed with a central hollow 26 so that the handle hub 21 slides easily upon the spindle. The proportions are usually such that the hub 21 extends part way into the recess 7 beneath an overhanging flange 27 extending from the body.

In order to make the lever hub 21 and the spindle 17 turn in unison about the axis 16, the hub 21 at an appropriate location is provided with an inwardly extending key 28 designed to move axially along the slot 18 is engagement with the walls thereof and to extend radially thereinto far enough so that the two parts are circumferentially interlocked to rotate together. Means are normally provided for holding the handle hub 21 against axial movement on the spindle except when desired but such mechanism is no part of the present invention and so is not illustrated. The handle hub 21 is appropriately kept against unwanted axial translation with respect to the body 6 but is freelyrotatable with respect thereto. I

Particularly pursuant to the invention, the auxiliary spring unit includes a cut 31' (FIG. 8, for example) preferably formed of sheet material-and including a peripheral circular wall 32 and a flat base wall 33. The base wall 33 is interrupted to provide a central opening 34 symmetrical about the axis 36 of the assembled capsule. The peripheral wall 32 is castellated to provide a plurality of upstanding lugs 37 and interveningrecesses 38. Adapted to cooperate with the cup is a closure plate 41 which is primarily a disk having portions 42 cut away to accommodate the lugs 37 and also having opposite, depressed portions 43 and 44. At final assembly, when the cover plate 41 has been fitted onto the cup 31, the corners 46 of the lugs 37 are staked or displaced to lock the depressed parts 43 and 44 of the cover plate 41 in position, thus making a permanent 'as-' sembly of the capsule.

Within the chamber 51 so defined and before final closure, there is provided a ring 52. For the most part this is a planar annulus readily rotatable within the cup 31 against the base wall. At approximately opposite portions the ring 52 has offset walls 53 and an end wall 54 to define each of two pockets 56. Each pocket is approximately rectangular in configuration and its side walls extend approximately halfway across the chamber 51 in an axial direction. Its end wall 54 extends peripherally for a predetermined distance.-

The cover plate 41, in addition to the contours previously described and particularly adjacent the depressed portions 43 and 44, is formed with a pair of inturned lugs 58 and 59 designed to extend axially inward toward the walls of the adjacent pocket 56. Each of the lugs 58 and 59 has substantially the same peripheral extent as its adjacent pocket wall 54. Each lug extends axially approximately to the center of the chamber 51. In some instances, as illustrated herein, the pockets and the lugs, although lining up exactly in an axial direction, may be spaced unequally around the periphery of the capsule but this does not materially affect the general operation of the structure.

In addition to the lugs 58 and 59 the closure plate is formed with a central opening 61. For the most part this is circular about the axis 36 but instead of being complete is interrupted to afford a pair of chordal walls 62 and 63. The chordal walls 62 and 63 are dimensioned to slide easily over the flats 13 and 14 while the opening 61 is slightly larger than the diameter of the remaining part of the circular-cylindrical surface 12.

Disposed within the chamber 51 against the circular wall 32 and abutting against the walls 53 of the pockets 56 and also against the side walls of the lugs 59 are coiled springs 66 and 67. Each of the springs is curved into an approximate half circle and bears'substantially equally against both of the pocket walls when the structure is in its centralized. position. The springs 66 and 67 In order to cooperate with the auxiliary spring unit,

the lever handle, such as 22, is provided with a projection 68 positioned and sized to extend into the appropriate one of the pockets 56 when the lever hub 21 is in position on the spindle, 17. Correspondingly, the lever 23. has an exactly similar and symmetrically disposed projection 69 designed to fit into the other one of the pockets 56 when the lever 23 is mounted on the spindle. I v

To permit some flexibility in positioning and fit and to insure properly free operation under all conditions, the capsule cup 31 is'urged against the hub 21 by a marcel spring 71 disposed between the end wall 9 and the .closure plate 41. v

In the operation of this structure, when'either of the lever. handles is assembled, as disclosed, with the appropriate one of the projections 68 or 69 in the respective one of the pockets 56,'the springs 66' and 67 hold the lugs 58 and 59 and the pocket walls 53 of the ring 52 in proper orientation or centralized. Despite an unbalanced or extra load on the lever handle tending to twist the ring 52, the preferably pre-stressed springs hold the pocket walls in alignment with the lugs. Since the lugs are constrained against turning by the flats 13 and 14 the eccentrically loaded lever handle is kept in in either direction then the projection such as 68 or 69 rotates the ring 52 in the corresponding direction an mechanism is effective to restore the pockets 56 to their illustrated positions and to restore the hand hold to its proper location.

The auxiliary spring unit mechanism is self-contained so that if it is desired to remove the capsule and replace it or to leave it out for any reason this is simply done by first removing the handle hub 21 and then simply sliding the capsule off of the flats 13 and 14 in the lock body 6. A capsule with stronger or weaker springs can easily be installed or if the lever handle is to be removed and substituted by a balanced knob, for example, it is not necessary to have any auxiliary spring unit in the lock mechanism. Since the present auxiliary spring unit has no external projections, it is easily stacked and positioned and since it is prevented from rotating by relatively large flats it can handle a large amount of torque- The construction is of simple,

stamped elements which are relatively inexpensive, can easily be assembled and have a protracted life. Since the springs are of the coil variety they do not,'over a long period of time, change their characteristics so that the centralizing effort remains consistent.

'. What is claimed is:

1. An auxiliary spring unit for locks having a frame with a flat thereon and having a rotor adapted to be mounted on a spindle rotatable on said frame comprising a capsule including a cylindrical cup having an intumed flange, a ring rotatably disposed within said cup and having walls defining an axially extending pocket, a

closure plate, means for interlocking said closure plateand said flange, means defining a flat on said closure plate adapted to engage said flat on said frame,'a lug on said closure plate extending axially toward and in substantial axial alignment with said pocket, and a spring within said cup and adapted to bear against said pocket wall and against saidlug.

2. A device as in claim 1 including a second pocket and a second lug circumferentially spaced from said pocket and said lug and in which said spring is adapted to bear against both of said pockets and lugs.

3. A device as in claim 2 including a second spring within said cup and adapted to bear against both of said pockets and lugs.

4. A device as in claim 1 including means forming a notch in said flange, said notch having a pair of end walls adapted to serve as stops, one of said end walls being in substantial axial alignment with said pocket.

5. A device as in claim 1 for use with a recess in said frame around said spindle in which said capsule surrounds said spindle and when in engagement with said flat is disposed entirely within said recess;

6. A device as in claim 1 in which said spindle has an axially extending slot and including a rotor on said spindle and extending into said slot and means on said rotor extending axially into said pocket.

7. A device as in claim 6 including means for urging said capsule axially toward said rotor.

* l l i 

1. An auxiliary spring unit for locks having a frame with a flat thereon and having a rotor adapted to be mounted on a spindle rotatable on said frame comprising a capsule including a cylindrical cup having an inturned flange, a ring rotatably disposed within said cup and having walls defining an axially extending pocket, a closure plate, means for interlocking said closure plate and said flange, means defining a flat on said closure plate adapted to engage said flat on said frame, a lug on said closure plate extending axially toward and in substantial axial alignment with said pocket, and a spring within said cup and adapted to bear against said pocket wall and against said lug.
 2. A device as in claim 1 including a second pocket and a second lug circumferentially spaced from said pocket and said lug and in which said spring is adapted to bear against both of said pockets and lugs.
 3. A device as in claim 2 including a second spring within said cup and adapted to bear against both of said pockets and lugs.
 4. A device as in claim 1 including means forming a notch in said flange, said notch having a pair of end walls adapted to serve as stops, one of said end walls being in substantial axial alignment with said pocket.
 5. A device as in claim 1 for use with a recess in said frame around said spindle in which said capsule surrounds said spindle and when in engagement with said flat is disposed entirely within said recess.
 6. A device as in claim 1 in which said spindle has an axially extending slot and including a rotor on said spindle and extending into said slot and means on said rotor extending axially into said pocket.
 7. A device as in claim 6 including means for urging said capsule axially toward said rotor. 